Can an employer in Nevada force an employee to use more than 40 hours
per week of leave?  Specifically, the employee is scheduled to work 48
hours per week, of which 8 is at overtime rate in order to meet
federal law, and now wants to take a week off.  Does he/she have to
take 48 hours of leave, to cover the scheduled hours worked, or could
he/she take 40 hours and not be penalized?  This assumes that the
employee has accrued sufficient leave.  Also, the current policy of
the employer is that the 48 hours of leave is paid at straight time.

What an employer!  Leave covers your normal, non-overtime hours,
unless you have an agreement otherwise.  Contact your state department
of labor for assistance.

Thanks for the tip - I'll call them tomorrow.

Laws & Regulations Enforced by the Labor Commissioner
CHAPTER 608 - COMPENSATION, WAGES AND HOURS
http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NAC/NAC-608.html
http://www.laborcommissioner.com/lawsandregs.htm

Your employer may not force you to forfiet 48 hours of vacation time
for one week of vacation. There is no law about it, this type in
idiocity cannot be imagined by fair ethical employers, or lawmakers,
only by jerks that try to not pay vacation pay for time earned. This
is what laws are made for. Tell your employer that you will not allow
48 hours of vacation time to be deducted for one calendar week of
vacation used.

What I suggest to do is to email the Labor Commissioner and ask:

mail1@laborcommissioner.com

Then when you say NO to your employer, you can show your employer the
email you will assuredly get back from the L.C. saying this is not
allowed. Or, offer to call the Labor Commissioner and ask:

Office of the Labor Commissioner
555 E. Washington Ave. Suite 4100
Las Vegas, NV 89101
PH: 702.486.2650
FAX: 702.486.2660

Office of the Labor Commissioner 
675 Fairview Drive Suite 226
Carson City, NV 89701
PH: 775.687.4850
FAX: 775.687.6409

The ONLY way it would be fair (to me) is if you got 12 hours of TIME
OFF for that extra 8 hours (hehe). --So, you would get 6.5 days off
instead of 5 days off. See how s/he likes that idea.

~~Cynthia